


A Price to Be Paid

by Peach_Bitters (peachybitters)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Jedi, Jedi Archives, Jedi Master Dooku, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), Master & Padawan Relationship(s), One Shot, Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn, Sith stuff, The Dark Side of the Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:46:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24654067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachybitters/pseuds/Peach_Bitters
Summary: Young Qui-Gon learns there's a price to be paid for his curiosity.
Relationships: Dooku & Qui-Gon Jinn
Kudos: 21





	A Price to Be Paid

The two younglings sat watching Qui-Gon with a mixture of apprehension and excitement as he stared into the glowing text of the holo book. Their own books lay on the library table, for the moment forgotten. Hyperspace routes and disputed mining colonies weren't as interesting as ancient battles and the terrors of the Dark Side.

"It was Darth Bane who begun the Rule of Two, " Qui-Gon continued. "Deciding that it was better for the Sith Lords to stay in the shadows rather than attempting to control the Galaxy through brute force and numbers."

"We shouldn't be reading about the Sith," whispered Lexi. "The masters don't like it."

"Go away then, I want to hear," said Gheevan impatiently. He was 11, a year older than Lexi and six months younger than Qui-Gon, whom he looked up to partially for his lightsaber skills and partially for his access to restricted knowledge. "They never tell us anything about the Sith. Qui-Gon's lucky he's got his master's archive access code. My master won't give me his."

Lexi frowned. She wanted to hear too, but didn't want to admit it. It just seemed like someone needed to point out that they were doing something questionable.

"Jedi need to know about their enemies," Qui-Gon pointed out, reasonably. "How can we win if we don't have the knowledge?"

"That's right," said Gheevan eagerly. "Go on then, Qui." 

Qui-Gon looked back down at the book, but before he could find his place, he heard the soft boot steps of someone approaching. All three padawans looked up to see one of the archivists- Master Nona- regarding them sternly.

"What's all this talking?"

"Just a...study group," Qui-Gon offered, though he knew his expression must look guilty. Just because he had access to his master's archive code, it didn't necessarily mean he was supposed to be taking out books on Sith legends from the restricted section. Unless Dooku got the book out himself Qui-Gon knew the archive masters had the right to take the materials away if they didn't find them appropriate, especially when Qui-Gon was sharing them with other students who might not have the same privileges. 

The librarian snatched up the book and studied it, and her frown deepened.

"And you're studying dark side lore and Sith Lords?" The librarian said with a huff. "For what purpose may I ask?"

Qui-Gon didn't answer. Gheevan and Lexi had sheepishly picked up the books they'd been reading previously and pretended to be engrossed.

"Qui-Gon, if your master feels you need to be reading these types of things, he can get it for you himself. But somehow, I think he knows your time is better spent studying other things. Don't you agree?"

"Yes, Master," said Qui-Gon, only because it was the only thing he was allowed to say right now without getting in trouble.

Nona gave the group one last piercing look, feeling the need to deliver one last chiding comment. "All of you behave yourselves."

She turned away, carrying the forbidden book under her arm.

"See, we weren't supposed to be reading that," said Lexi, but she looked disappointed. Qui-Gon had given her a taste of forbidden knowledge. Now she wanted more.

Qui-Gon was silent for a moment. Did he really want to show them? At last he decided, he did. "I know where we can get something else."

***

Qui-Gon approached Dooku's chambers with some trepidation, even though he knew his master was giving dueling lessons and wouldn't be home for a couple hours. It's not that what he was doing was forbidden exactly - Dooku let him come and go from his rooms freely, like most masters with their padawans, whether he was actually home or not. But somehow Qui-Gon didn't think Dooku would approve of his apprentice bringing in his friends to show them what he was going to show them. Too late, Qui-Gon had already told them he would, he couldn't go back now. Besides, he was kind of excited about showing someone else.

The book sat on the top of a book shelf so high Qui-Gon needed a step stool to reach it. He could have summoned the book down with the Force, but somehow doing so seemed disrespectful or flippant. He already had the feeling that what he was doing was kind of sneaky, so he wanted to be as respectful as possible.

Qui-Gon did not know how or when this book came to be in Dooku's possession. Someday he would ask him. But for now it didn't seem like a good idea. Although Dooku hadn't expressly forbidden him from looking at it, he'd told Qui-Gon quite frankly that the book was too advanced and he'd be better off not touching it.

Gheevan and Lexi peered down at it curiously. It was an old, archaic thing, bound in the old style with the leather of some forgotten animal from a distant world, and had been mended many times over the centuries.

'It's about the Sith," Qui-Gin whispered. "But not just about history. It was written by someone who really knew about the Dark Side."

He'd looked at it before, a few times when he'd been alone. Guilt always made him put it back quickly. He didn't want Dooku to come in suddenly and catch him reading it, and he knew he should just try and forget about the thing entirely. But after a week or so he always felt strangely drawn back.

The three of them sat down in the middle of the floor, legs crossed, and Qui-Got set the book down gently before him and opened the heavy cover. He turned through the pages, each one covered by an ancient alphabet and various diagrams and illustrations. 

"It's not in Basic," Gheevan observed. "Can you read it?"

Dooku had indeed taught Qui-Gon some of the old scripts and glyphs, and Qui-Gon, who had a natural knack for such things, was pretty advanced in his studies. But strangely now he found as he looked down at the faded pages, he couldn’t decipher a single word.

“That’s funny,” he muttered to himself, flipping a few of the pages. He squinted down, confused. He’d even read this part before.

Gheevan started, as if he’d heard a loud noise, though the room was still. “What was that?”

“I feel..cold,” Lexi said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Qui-Gon picked the book up again and turned another page. He was cold too. His hands especially, where they touched the book, a burning, frostbitten sort of cold. And somehow it felt like something in the room was moving, in them and around them. He stared at the picture on the page below, the only thing he could comprehend at the moment. A man with outstretched arm, blue lightning bolts emerging from his fingers. Qui-Gon’s own fingertips burned all the more intensely, so much that tears had begun to spring into his eyes; yet he found he could not drop the book.

Dread seemed to be seeping up through the floor, a Something winding itself around him, an almost physical presence. Lexi and Gheevan’s faces had gone pale. They both sat rigidly, as if being held in place or propped up, their eyes staring ahead, focused on nothing. 

That was the last thing Qui-Gon saw before the room melted away and he was looking at the Jedi Temple as if from a distance. It was burning. And then he was moving closer towards it, or the Something was pushing him toward it, against his will. He tried to push back, to turn his perception away. He did not want to know what was in the Temple. All his strength had dissolved. He was moving closer down to the Temple entrance. Bodies - parts of bodies- lay scattered in front of it. The Temple guards. And somehow he knew there was a greater horror yet inside the Temple. He tried to close his eyes, but he no longer had eyes to close. The Something was making him see.

 _“No,”_ Qui- Gon thought, drifting closer still. “ _Please, no. I don’t want to see them_ . _Don’t let me see them._ ” 

Then there was a dark flash of the Something’s horrible amusement piercing into him, and everything went red, a blinding red. Pain tore through the middle of Qui-Gon’s body, an awful burning, as if his organs were being seared and disintegrating inside him. He gasped, folding forward, dying. Then the pain was gone.

Slowly, he sat up, once again in the familiar dimness of Dooku’s quarters. He was alone - Lexi and Gheevan had evidently fled. 

No..he was not alone. He came to the observation, slowly, of something in the corner. Dizzy, he stood and put his hand to his lightsaber hilt, the only thing he could think to do. But he had forgotten what to do next. His Jedi training seemed like something that had happened in a dream. Or something that had happened to someone else, in a story he’d read long ago.

A heavy blackness had seemed to settle over the room. Two glowing orbs of red eyes stared out of it, and then a face like Qui-Gon had never seen on a person or animal was hovering over him out of the darkness, and it spoke in a language without words, with a voice without breath, a voice from somewhere black and cold, further than the last star, where nothing was. It spoke of how it would devour him.

***

“Qui-Gon.”

The padawan opened his eyes. Dooku was kneeling above him, gently squeezing his shoulder. He was lying on the floor on his back, the hilt of his lightsaber gripped firmly in his hand.

“I’m so cold,” he whispered to Dooku. “Where did it go, Master?”

“Where did what go?” Dooku asked, helping Qui-Gon sit up. “What in the blazes were you doing?” his eyes moved toward the book on the floor. Somehow, some of the pages had been torn out of it, and lay scattered about

“The monster,” Qui-Gon said. He was beginning to come back to himself and realized how ridiculous that sounded. “I mean…” his voice trailed off as he saw Dooku’s look of confusion and, yes, even worry.

Qui-Gon was drenched in cold sweat from head to toe and he was shivering just a little. “Did you feel that, Master?”

“You had a vision. What did you see?” Dooku said, an edge to his voice. He took off his robe and wrapped it around his wild-eyed apprentice.

 _A vision_. Qui-Gon had never had one in his life. It had always sounded exciting and mystical, something that would make him an important Jedi. But he just felt scared and small. Like he didn’t matter.

“Start from the beginning,” Dooku clarified. “I know it has to do with that book.”

Qui-Gon took a deep breath and told his master what happened. How they’d started in the library and then came to look at Dooku’s book. How Qui-Gon couldn’t read the words. The cold and the dread, the Temple burning and the bodies. The Something laughing at him in the blackness. He did not tell his master about the burning pain that had ripped through him, the death that seemed to swallow him up for just a few seconds.

“Was it real?” He asked before his master could respond to what he’d said. He needed to know. “Was it true?”

Dooku was silent for a moment, deep in thought. “There’s no way of knowing. No vision is real until it comes to pass. And there are many that don’t. ”

“Because we can make them not come true?” Qui-Gon asked hopefully.

“No more questions,” Dooku snapped. He began to gather up the pages of his book. “You had no business reading this. One must prepare oneself for this kind of study, it does not exist for the amusement of idle padawans. Worse things might have happened to you.”

“Yes Master” He realized something suddenly. “We have to find Lexi and Gheevan and find out what happened to them, make sure they’re all right.” He started to stand, but Dooku pushed him back down.

I will have to go track down their masters and explain this situation. You will stay in my quarters the rest of the evening and meditate.”

“Yes Master,” Qui-Gon agreed again.

“And if you think I don’t have better things to do than run about the Temple cleaning up your messes you are very much mistaken.” Dooku waved a finger at him. “And put your lightsaber away, you are not in the training halls.”

Qui-Gon quickly fastened his lightsaber hilt back to his belt; he’d forgotten he’d been holding it. He was used to his master blustering at him about this or that, and now it somehow made the situation less scary, like Dooku was scolding him for leaving his boots in the middle of the floor again.

“Didn’t everyone in the Temple feel that?” Qui-Gon had already forgotten about “no more questions.”

“I think not. The Dark Side is subtle.”

“But what about -”

“I said no more questions.” Dooku’s voice was steely. Qui-Gon went silent at once.

“I shall have this locked up in the Archives,” Dooku told him, the book tucked under his arms. I should probably have kept it there in the first place.”

He turned to leave but turned back to Qui-Gon, as the door to his chambers slid open. “You aren’t to discuss this with anyone besides myself and Master Yoda. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Master,” said Qui-Gon solemnly.

“Always remember. There is a price to be paid for some knowledge.”

Dooku swept out of the room, the door hissing closed behind him. Qui-Gon sat, still wrapped in his master’s robe, beginning to feel warmer. He took a deep breath and relaxed into his meditation, letting the peace of the Force embrace him, wondering how anyone could willingly give themselves to the horrors of the dark.

***

_Many years later_

Obi-Wan Kenobi browsed through the holobooks in the Jedi Archives, enjoying a brief moment of quiet. He was not hiding - not exactly. But it was nice to have a few minutes to himself. People had been wanting to speak with him all day, and frankly recounting all of the past few weeks’ events was beginning to test his Jedi patience.

He mentally cringed a bit when he felt someone approach him. “Master Kenobi. Forgive me, but might I have a word with you?”

Obi-Wan turned reluctantly but smiled as he recognized the speaker. The man who’d greeted him was older but not elderly, his face haggard but kindly and sandy grey hair pulled up into a top knot.

“Master Gheevan. How are you?”

Gheevan waved a hand dismissively. “It’s no matter how I am, but how are you? I was so sorry to hear about your Master.”

“Yes, he was taken far too soon,” said Obi-Wan. He’d heard many condolences over the past few days, and though he appreciated them, he was aching to just move on. For Anakin’s sake, more than anything. Obi-Wan had been raised to give all for duty, but he had never felt so hopelessly needed in his life.

“You know, I’ve known him all my life,” Gheevan smiled. “We were in the Ox Clan together. I remember when he was four.”

Obi-Wan nodded patiently. He had indeed heard this before. Qui-Gon had had Gheevan over for tea many times during his apprenticeship. Gheevan had been a promising Jedi at one time but had sustained a head injury in a speeder crash on Ryloth as a young knight. The healers had never quite been able to get him back to normal, though they’d tried for years. He’d retired early and spent his days working in the Archives, seeming content enough with his lot. He was well liked among the Jedi, and although he’d technically never earned the rank of Master, he was called such by all as a sign of respect.

“What peculiar circumstances his passing was,” Gheevan continued, shaking his head in wonder. “The Sith returning! And that boy! Like something out of the old legends. Anyhow, I was wondering if Qui-Gon ever mentioned a certain book to you, a very ancient one his master owned when we were boys. It was called ‘Practical Applications of the Force.’ And innocuous title, but it was full of knowledge that is forbidden to the Jedi. Not to study, of course, but to practice.”

“I can’t say that he did,” answered Obi-Wan. “Though it sounds like something he might have studied.”

“It was locked up in the Temple Archives for years,” Gheevan told him. “When I heard what had..happened on Naboo, I went to check on it at once. I just had a bad feeling. We wouldn’t want it falling into the wrong hands, at a time like this.”

“No,” Obi-Wan agreed.

“There are always two, you know,” Gheevan said quietly. He looked away for a moment and his eyes seemed to grow dark with fear. He looked back up at Obi-Wan. “When I checked the place where we kept the book, it was gone. I do not think it’s in the Temple anymore.”

“Odd,” said Obi-Wan. “Do you think it was stolen? How could it have been?”

Gheevan shook his head. “I do not know. But would you search through your master’s things? Just in case he borrowed it.” He grabbed Obi-Wan’s hand, and the young Jedi felt uneasy. Gheevan was prone to bouts of confusion, but normally remained good natured. His anxiety was palpable now.

He dropped Obi-Wan’s hand suddenly and smiled. “Forgive me. I’m sure it will turn up. I’m sure all will be well.”

“It was good to speak with you, Master Gheevan,” Obi-Wan said. “I’m afraid I must go, my padawan is waiting for me.”

“Certainly, Master Kenobi. I’m sorry for having taken your time.” Gheevan gave a slight bow. “Do bring your apprentice by for tea sometime. I should very much like to hear his stories.”

Obi-Wan smiled softly. “Only if you don’t encourage him too much.”

Gheevan gave him a long look. “May the Force be with you.”

“You as well, Master.”

“May the Force be with us all.” Gheevan said quietly, turning to disappear into the stacks of books. Obi-Wan watched him go. The encounter had given him a strange feeling. He wondered what Qui-Gon would have done. Probably he would have spoke to the man kindly, in a soothing voice and calmed his nerves. Obi-Wan wasn’t good at that sort of thing. Perhaps though, he could learn. He gathered up his things and went to go find his padawan.


End file.
